An aircraft landing gear assembly can include a structural member arranged to control the orientation of one or more other parts of the assembly by reacting compressive or tensile loads applied to the structural member as a result of attempted movement of the other parts of the assembly.
One example of such a structural member is a stay, which controls the orientation of the main strut when the landing gear assembly is in a deployed condition.
A stay can comprise a two bar linkage that can be unfolded to assume an aligned condition in which the stay axially reacts attempted movement of the main strut from the deployed condition. A lateral load applied to the stay can “break” it, i.e. move it out of the aligned condition, such that axial loading causes the stay to fold as the main strut is moved by a retraction actuator to a stowed condition.
Another example of a structural member is a lock stay or lock link, which controls the orientation of the stay to maintain the stay in the locked condition and applies a lateral load to break the lock link. A lock link typically comprises a two bar linkage that can be unfolded to assume a locked over-center condition to inhibit movement of the stay.
The load that can be reacted by a structural member in tension is significantly higher than the load that can be taken in compression. Thus, structural members designed to handle compressive loads are generally of a relatively large cross sectional size in comparison to tensile members so as to reduce the likelihood of the structural member buckling when loaded.
The present inventor has identified that structural members arranged to control the orientation of one or more other parts of a landing gear assembly by reacting compressive loads applied to the structural member as a result of attempted movement of the other parts of the assembly can be made smaller and lighter than known structural members.